Farkas free; mum on charges

Thursday

Lee Farkas posted bond and walked out of the Marion County Jail on Thursday afternoon into blinding sunshine and scorching heat.

Lee Farkas posted bond and walked out of the Marion County Jail on Thursday afternoon into blinding sunshine and scorching heat.

The fit-looking Farkas, when asked if he is innocent of the charges, politely replied, “You'll have to talk to my lawyer about that.”

Asked if he was grateful to be out, he smiled and said, “They took really good care of me. They were hospitable.”

Farkas walked a short distance to a shaded area, where he said he was waiting for someone to pick him up. He said that while at the jail, he was in “two different places and could not tell night from day.”

Farkas said he actually liked his jail mug shot. As far as pictures of himself, “it was one of the better ones taken of me.”

He was freed after posting $2 million bail under terms set out Wednesday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Gary R. Jones.

The former Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. chairman, named in a 16-count federal indictment last week alleging bank, wire and securities fraud, was required to secure his bond by recording mortgages on his home in Ocala, which has an estimated value of $2.5 million; and on the Fort Lauderdale property of a friend.

His release from jail was delayed by a day because his mortgage paperwork in Broward County was only completed this morning.

“All of the conditions of the bond have been met. The mortgages have been recorded,” Farkas' Miami attorney, Gerald Houlihan, said Thursday.

A relieved and smiling Farkas, 57, told the Star-Banner, “I am thankful to the court and I am thankful to my attorneys and I can go defend myself.”

Farkas was dressed in a white T-shirt, dark blue shorts with white stripes on the side, ankle-high socks and tennis shoes — the very outfit he was wearing when he was arrested June 15 after working out at a gym. He was carrying a brown paper bag in one hand.

He eventually was picked up by a blonde-haired woman driving a four-door red Buick.

Farkas is accused of orchestrating a $1.9 billion fraud scheme that caused his company and a major bank to topple last year.

Farkas has been ordered to wear a GPS monitoring device. He will be allowed to travel to Atlanta and Miami, where his attorneys are based; and to the Eastern District of Virginia, where his criminal case will be tried.

If found guilty as charged, he faces up to 435 years in prison, fines of at least $13.75 million, and forfeiture of at least $22 million in assets.

Contact Austin L. Miller at 867-4118 or austin.miller@starbanner.com.

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